The Maritime Museum of San Diego, established in 1948, preserves one of the largest collections of historic sea vessels in the United States. Located on the

San Diego Bay San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of c ...

, the centerpiece of the museum's collection is the '' Star of India'', an 1863 iron bark. The museum maintains the MacMullen Library and Research Archives aboard the 1898 ferryboat ''

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

''. The museum also publishes the quarterly peer-reviewed journal ''Mains'l Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History''. The Maritime Museum at the Star of India Wharf is located on the west side of North Harbor Drive, between the ends of Ash Street and Grape Street, south of

San Diego International Airport San Diego International Airport , formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Federa ...

Vessels in the museum's collection

Current collection

* '' Star of India'', 1863 merchant bark, the oldest ship still sailing regularly and also the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship still afloat. * ''

'', 1898 ferryboat from the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

area * '' Californian'', 1984 replica of 1847 cutter ''C.W. Lawrence'' and official tall ship of the state of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

* ''America'', 1995 replica of the 1851 yacht ''America'' that won the trophy now called the

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

* ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

'', 1904

steam yacht A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts. Origin of the name The English steamboat entrepreneur George Dodd (1783–1827) used the term ...

that served in both World Wars * ''

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

'', 1914 harbor pilot boat * HMS ''Surprise'', a 1970 replica of a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

frigate. ''Surprise'' was used in the film '' Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World''. The ship also made an appearance in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'' as HMS ''Providence''. * USS ''Dolphin'', diesel-electric submarine launched in 1968 and decommissioned in 2007 * ''PCF-816'' (formerly ''C24'' or ''P24''), 1968

Patrol Craft Fast Patrol Craft Fast (PCF), also known as Swift Boats, were all-aluminum, long, shallow-draft vessels operated by the United States Navy, initially to patrol the coastal areas and later for work in the interior waterways as part of the brown-wate ...

that was transferred to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1971 and decommissioned in 2011 * ''

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

'', replica of

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo ( pt, João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c. 1499 – January 3, 1543) was an Iberian maritime explorer best known for investigations of the West Coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the firs ...

's galleon which discovered San Diego Bay in 1542. * A railroad barge is docked behind the Berkeley. Many guests mistake it for a floating dock because it no longer has its tracks. In the lower deck are workshops and storerooms used by the museum for the maintenance of the collection.

Former collection

* '' B-39'', Soviet

Foxtrot class submarine The Foxtrot class was the NATO reporting name of a class of diesel-electric patrol submarines that were built in the Soviet Union. The Soviet designation of this class was Project 641. The Foxtrot class was designed to replace the earlier Zulu cl ...

; as of October 2021 the sub is being removed from the collection and sold for scrap. It was finally towed to a scrap yard in Ensenada in February 2022.

San Salvador replica

Starting in 2011 the Maritime Museum of San Diego built a full-sized, fully functional, historically accurate replica of

’s flagship, ''

''. The replica was constructed in full public view in the bayside Spanish Landing park in San Diego, giving people the opportunity to watch a living recreation of the first modern industrial activity in the Americas. She was launched in 2015 and is stationed at the San Diego Bay Embarcadero as part of the Museum's fleet of historic and replica ships. She opened for public tours in September 2016 in conjunction with the Maritime Museum's annual Festival of Sail. Later that month she is expected to start making coastal tours up the California coast.

Gallery

File:Berkeley_Ferry_and_U.S.S._Dolphin_at_the_Maritime_Museum_of_San_Diego.jpg, The ferryboat ''Berkeley'', housing the San Diego Maritime Museum and USS ''Dolphin'' File:SDMM-ships-museum-overall.jpg, Overall view of the museum's ships. File:Starofindia.jpg, ''Star of India''. File:HMS-Surprise-overall.jpg, ''HMS Surprise''. File:B-39 front.jpg, ''B-39''. File:Sovietssk.jpg, Another picture of ''B-39''

Midway Museum

Not affiliated with the Maritime Museum, but located a short distance away, is the independently operated USS ''Midway'' Aircraft Carrier Museum. Although at first it was feared the ''Midway'' would compete with the Maritime Museum for visitors, in fact visitation of the Maritime Museum has increased since the Midway museum opened.Sauer, Mar
Aircraft carrier Midway finds itself awash in visitors
February 13, 2005 ''San Diego Union Tribune'' – Accessed March 23, 2006

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maritime Museum Of San Diego Maritime museums in California Museums in San Diego San Diego Bay Museums established in 1948 1948 establishments in California History of San Diego Landmarks in San Diego Maritime history of California